 *Self Portrait 1930* |
  "The Braithwaite material is fascinating... intriguing intimate glimpses into a frame of mind and an artistic style that was the epitome of its time." Thomas P. F. Hoving, world-renowned art expert, author, and former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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T. R. BRAITHWAITE
*Born December 26, 1902. Died August 12, 1964.
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Chicago 1906-1925: Theodore Roosevelt Braithwaite was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He began his formal art studies at The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts at the precocious age of thirteen, and later graduated from The Chicago Art Institute. He studied privately with individual artists such as Sigurd Skou, John Norton, and J. Wellington Reynolds. In his early twenties Braithwaite was Art Director (and occasionally appeared as a member of the cast as well) for The Attic Players, a little-theater group in Chicago. New York City 1925-1935: In 1925 Braithwaite moved to New York City where he continued his studies with his mentor, Sigurd Skou, and attended classes at The Grand Central School of Art and the Art Students League. There he met his first wife, Helen Manship ('Helen'), a part-time figure model at The League and a chorus girl in the Ziegfeld Follies. Their daughter, ('Joan') was born in 1930. To support himself and his family, Braithwaite freelanced with various advertising agencies. During this period he designed the original Hires Root Beer logo (no longer in use) and the familiar stylized General Electric logo (still used today). It is believed that he created the concept of the now-traditional use of twins to advertise Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum and executed the first of those ads. ('Surfer') for an example of the style he used in that early ad for Wrigley). Braithwaite was actively involved in the Bohemian milieu of Greenwich Village and was one of the founding members of the Annual Outdoor Art Exhibition in Washington Square He also worked on WPA mural projects, including the New York Central Library, numerous post offices and other government buildings. |
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Boston, 1935-1964: Desperate for money in the midst of The Great Depression, Braithwaite left his wife and daughter in New York City for a temporary job with Forbes Lithograph in Boston, Massachusetts ('Forbes folio cover design'). This separation resulted in the destruction of his family, for when Braithwaite decided to remain in Boston, Helen refused to join him there, and they were divorced in 1938. Soon after, Braithwaite married Martha Calder Bacon ('Martha'), while his first wife and daughter moved to California. His second daughter, ('Caroline'), was born in 1948. In 1938, he accepted a full-time position in the advertising department at The Christian Science Monitor and worked there until his death in 1964. During those 26 years he prepared many of the illustrated graphs, maps, and charts that appeared in the newspaper, as well as advertisements and feature-story illustrations ('Life in Colonial America') and 'Easter Fashions'). His Life's Work: Braithwaite was particularly noted for his innovative use of vibrant and expressive color in his later works, some of which have been mistaken for oil pastels but were actually created using multiple layers of chalk pastel sprayed with clear Krylon between each layer. His artistic accomplishments covered a wide range of subject matter, but he spent much of his free time drawing and painting continued interpretations of the nude in a variety of media, primarily pastel and conte. He found pastels uniquely suited to portray the soft forms, graceful lines, and sensual curves of his subjects. |
 EXHIBITS & AWARDS . |
| Braithwaite displayed his paintings and drawings at The Chicago Art Institute in Illinois and
The Grand Central Gallery in New
York. He exhibited frequently in Boston at The
Fine Arts Museum, The Copley Society,
The Dunbarton Gallery, numerous
Boston Arts Festivals, and several
exhibitions of The Boston Society of Independent
Artists. He also had one-man shows at The Cox Gallery and The Henri Studio Gallery in Boston. Most recently he was the featured artist in a showing at Remarque Fine Art Gallery (October 1998) in Whitewater, Colorado and had a one-man retrospective show at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado. Braithwaite's work appeared in American Artist in the Fall of 1959. His display designs for the 1939 New York World's Fair earned him a place in Who Was Who in American Art, and he is listed in Davenport's Guide (1996). |
UPDATE #1:
A perpetual art scholarship fund has now been endowed in my father's memory at Mesa State College in Colorado.
It is our hope that this web site will become a student project there and remain online for generations to come.
All proceeds from picture sales are donated to the scholarship fund.
UPDATE #2:
Braithwaite paintings have recently been acquired by The Mesa State College Foundation
and by The Western Colorado Center for the Arts.
UPDATE #3:
Our book is now a reality!
All this has resulted from contacts made through this web site.
*THE POWER OF THE INTERNET IS TRULY AWESOME !
VISIT THESE OTHER PAGES:
From Attic to Barn to Garage
*The incredible history of the loss and rediscovery of these drawings and paintings.
Memories of My Dad
*Tom Selleck in the film "Lassiter"-- that's how I remember my father.
contactus@lostladies.com
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